Officials at the Central Bank Egypt said that Bank is fully
prepared to contribute to the investigation of the transfer of funds
made before and after the revolution out of Egypt, and to assist in the
investigations of financial corruption.

They added that the new governor Hisham Ramez seeks to strengthen
cooperation with the investigation of all circumstances and financial
crimes committed before and after the revolution, as long as it is not
in conflict with the law on confidentiality procedures.

Some people criticised Central Bank policies after the 25 January
Revolution, and that it had been helped by Egyptian banks to help
businessmen to smuggle their money deposited in banks abroad, something
which has been denied by Ramez since he was the Deputy Governor ofCBE
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (a Brit. title)

n abbr (= Companion of (the Order of) the British Empire) → título de nobleza

n abbr (=
.

The officials added that the majority of thesmuggling
illegal transport across state or national boundaries of goods or persons liable to customs or to prohibition. Smuggling has been carried on in nearly all nations and has occasionally been adopted as an instrument of national policy, as by Great Britain
of funds
both before and after the revolution was done without the knowledge of
the banking system, confirming that the banking sector is innocent and
clean of these crimes.

But sceptics criticised the banking system last September after
allegations of smuggling funds were directed at some leading figures
within the banking sector from the Financial and Economic Committee of
theShura council

.

The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) member of parliament, Ibrahim
Saleh, said that the former governor of the Central Bank, Farouq
Al-Oqda, as well as the National Bank of Egypt’s (NBE
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) former
directors, Banque Misr’s former directors, and Banque du
Caire’s former directors were all directed by the policies
committee and its headGamal Mubarak

, and that they were tasked with
implementing the committee’s policies, disguised as banking
reforms, which enabled the smuggling of money.

Officials at the Central Bank said that the Bank has cooperated
with the investigating authorities after the revolution, despite the
fact that often the public prosecutor’s decisions were not clear or
specific.

They also added that investigators must take into consideration the
country’s secrecy laws when taking any decisions regarding this
issue, but also that they should implement the necessary legal steps to
disclose these accounts.

Also mentioned was that a clear and specific formal request not
conflicting with any banks act, will facilitate the work of the two
sides, which will prevent conflicts of interest and will motivate the
bank to do what is required. After the revolution, the Central Bank has
received hundreds of applications from investigators about businessmen,
former members of parliament, former ministers, and those who held
government posts during the Mubarak-era. The Central Bank has
implemented some of these, while others have been rejected until the
completion of the necessary legal procedures.

The government has sought for a long time to investigate accounts
belonging to some members of the former regime, but often standing in
the way of these investigations are the country’s secrecy laws,
Article 1 of which states that: “All customer accounts and deposits
and their honesty and any replacement in banks, as well as related
transactions are confidential and may not be available or give data,
directly or indirectly, except with written permission from the holder
of the account or deposit or theSecretariat
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Secretariat

(foaled 1970) U.S.
or the Treasury or one of
his heirs or legatees, all or some of these funds, or of the legal
representative or proxy of the Commissioner or the Court or arbitrators
and ban provided for in the preceding paragraph to all persons,
including those authorised by law the authority to access or obtain data
sheets or unauthorised disclosure of confidential in accordance with the
provisions of this law, theembargo
, prohibition by a country of the departure of ships or certain types of goods from its ports. Instances of confining all domestic ships to port are rare, and the Embargo Act of 1807 is the sole example of this in
remains valid even if the
relationship ended between the client and the Bank for any reason.

The sources confirmed that Government reconciliation with members
of the former regime is the ideal solution for ascertaining the actual
amount of money that will be after the settlement is accused of issuing
the written permission of the investigating authorities to detect bank
accounts.

Meanwhile the officials ruled out the possibility that the Central
Bank will be able to recover the funds because it is not a diplomatic
channel and not judicial authority exercised its powers.

A senior official said: ” “We are not the central bank to
these foreign banks to force them to reveal the assets of the former
regime after the revolution or even before the revolution.” She
noted that the Bank’s role would be limited to providing advice to
government agencies working on these cases, aware that the Bank carries
little weight abroad and will struggle to apply international pressure.

She explained that there are great difficulties for Egypt in
recovering these funds as government agencies are unable to conduct
their investigations properly because the many banks refuse to disclose
their existing accounts belonging to businessmen and former officials in
the Mubarak regime.